The fires have spread to about 250 acres of the contaminated forest surrounding the former power plant in Ukraine

Forest fires near the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident in Chernobyl have seen radiation spike to 16 times its normal levels.

Yegor Firsov, head of Ukraine’s state ecological inspection service, shared a video on Facebook on Sunday of a Geiger counter showing how the radiation at the centre of the fires is far higher than normal.

He explained: “There is bad news – radiation is above normal in the fire’s centre.”

Yegor went on to explain that the fires had spread to about 100 hectares (250 acres) of forest.

They broke out on Saturday and the Ukrainian capital of Kiev has already mobilised two planes, a helicopter and around 100 firefighters to fight the blaze.

But the high radiation levels at its core has led to some difficulties in battling the fires.

It's All Over Now, Take What You Think Is Necessary

This has always been 'the worst fear' of people knowledgeable about Chernobyl. Everything for miles, in all directions, around the power plant is radioactive: the trees, plants, dirt, insects, animals (deer herds, wild pigs, birds, fish)...you name it. It's ALL radioactive.

A forest fire could send TONS of highly radioactive ash into the atmosphere where it would spiral in a counterclockwise direction, covering first eastern Europe, then Scandinavia and Great Britain before plunging south towards France and the Mediterranean region.

Remove From Your Block List

Manage Follow Preferences

Block

When you block a person, they can no longer invite you to a private message or post to your profile wall. Replies and comments they make will be collapsed/hidden by default. Finally, you'll never receive email notifications about content they create or likes they designate for your content.